Environment Southland senior biodiversity officer Dave Burgess said the funding allowed the project to continue and finish off its action plan. One of Bensemann’s tasks was to find the extra funding needed for the five-year action plan to come into effect. For every dollar Predator Free 2050 Ltd put into the project, Predator Free Southland needed to match it, he said. Burgess could not say how much funding was needed to start the action plan, but had said in October that the project would need $10 million over five years. The plan, yet to be announced, is expected to include one major project in the Awarua area from Sandy Point to Fortrose, with Bluff at its cornerstone, along with smaller projects around the wider Southland area.